Women in the media

Women's image in media is a forever changing concept, they have always been promoted as beautiful 'works of art' and in sexual fashions, if they're off 'the right factors.' In this case, predominantly skinny and blonde haired such like Jennifer Aniston.

This image has gone on to be the mainstream 'look for' in women, especially brunettes. However with an ever changing society, people are slowly starting to accept the larger sized women, a controversial decision to some, where you can apply Stuart Hall, in that some accept this new change in society and some just don't.

The first example of a change to women representation was Marilyn Monroe, the 'curvy lady'. Not quite a 'plus size' but it was the best women like her were getting at the time.

This was revolutional for society, however the change still wasn't applied. TV ads still went for the skinny models, impacting on younger people in society wanting them to be something that wasn't. Victoria's secret was verty guilty for this.
They used the skinny models to promote and inspire the younger generation to be like, them which leads to more discrimination against those who arent blessed with bodies such as.

Thankfully for the female image, DOVE released a new advert where they used the larger models in revealing clothes, to show how society has changed and how they should be accepted.

The whole point of this post is to show how far women in the media have come. And that my idea as explained is to present the more un accepted side of women in the media, to follow the changing concept of society and ensure its acceptable to be what ever size you want or anythign is beautiful (however, do not confuse with feminism, im implying despite size, people do find 'larger' women attractive and that they should accept themselves).

By applying this changing concept, It can help me with future research and add an enigma behind the choice of actors, and there I can apply Stuart Hall and his theory.

Reviewing Ancillaries

Here are 3 posters I have found after vigorous research, one from a student of last years work. The other's two music posters promoting either an event or artist

This one is a product from last year, where we see both actors present with a beautiful shot, and everything (text and protagonist) are well structured in that they stand out. It is well spaced out, it is very clear to see and read. 

It is clear to see this is an indie poster in that there is a potential relation at present, signified by the love heart balloon, and that typically the 1975 produce indie songs.

I do quite like how the text works with the image, however the image can be misinterpreted as perhaps a horror film which is something I will need to look for when making mine. It is very brief and sharp and being for an indie song, is something I will refer to if necessary however there are clear flaws which I can avoid, unlike this one.

Here is a music poster for a SuperBowl game half time show, obviously a far bigger artist than the one I have chosen, but you can tell it fits well with the topic, in this case sports, signified by Katy holding a football. Once again the poster is formal and looks sharp with the bold text and colouring.
As you can see sponsoring is also present, something I will need to ensure I include.

Lana Del Reys advert is very brief, but smart, it she is the main figure of the image and the colours present compliment her very well. There is no info, which is not an issue but it stands out very well, and is noticeably indie, perhaps something I can look to do with mine. It is clear though this is something that will appeal more to female audience, something I want to as well, so will be important for me.

The importance of this post, is that I can evaluate other work/student projects and use them to influence my piece, and notice flaws or imperfections with others that I can focus on not to do. not only but they're all typically indie expect the SuperBowl one, but by using a set genre of music it allows to direct me for my indie song poster, as evaluating a pop poster or rock n roll, wouldn't be any benefit to me at all.

Actor update!

After a complete revamp of ideas, this has led to forced actor change. Thankfully I have the luck of people who are willing to help. My girlfriend India, has reluctantly volunteered after realising she was the last and only option.

For me she is the perfect fit of choice of character. Not only does she look rather indie, and fit the genre of my song. She will also fit the unconventional feature of the female image. She will not be your typical skinny blonde actress in one of those love/fantasy songs, she will infact be a little larger. The reason being with modern media, text is making t far more conventional and acceptable, and what helps me say online with conventions and please some views, is that she is a natural blonde, blue eyed female which will work perfectly as that is the typical stereotype for your actresses in fantasy songs.

 As you can see by some of the images, regardless of the lighting she sticks out, and as she is naturally good looking this will help furthermore when filming for a male gaze and femae interest.

What I can learn by talking about this, is how important it is to choose wisely when character planning, as if you dig deepenough you can draw up ideal nominess. Fortunately for me however, I didn't have to dig too deep.

India, will fit in many key categories, Representation, Audience, Genre and even Narrative;

Representation - Because of who I am representing, and how she looks visually and due to modern concepts, I'm/she is representing todays women who don't feel appreciated because of their image, therefore I will aim to represent.

Audience - Being blonde, she will perfectly fit the storyline and appeal to the female eye. The male audience I aim to use shots and dress her appropriate to the male gaze, not too visual however, just not so much that the males are gazing to the extent they pause the video. What this allows is for me to appeal to both audiences of each gender. Her indie apparel will hopefully inspire and influence not only my primary audience but my secondary yoo.

Genre - Being an indie-ish song, India has short hair, and if she can be dressed and portrayed right, will look really strong and have good relation to the genre of the song.

Narrative - As the song is about love/fantasy, her natural features (eye colour, hair etc) will help me fit the stereotype, take Taylor Swift for example, always in love music videos, popular with the female audience, and as you can see, she is also blonde and blue eyed.

I will post costume/make up previews soon when I go to Torquay and aquire some establishing shots and others crucial for my film.

Music video inspiration

Here is some inspiration for my music piece. I am not wholly inspired by what is going on in the texts, but simply some brief parts of them, that I will use in my piece, simply as this is what modern day media (post modernism) has become, taking brief ideas from other media texts.

The first video is Meghan Trainor - 'All about that bass' a text in which she inspires women that you don't need to be skinny to be pretty etc. Not the full message that she aims to promote but an idea I am decoding, visually you can tell also that Meghan isn't the most slim women herself, which inspires me to follow the same prospect in terms of character presentation. This is the first idea of mine.

The second is Wiz Khalifa - See you again, where he uses some fantastic imagery, very aesthetic to the viewing eye. I have chosen to follow this convention of the well framed establishing shots to draw in viewers and keep the text aesthetically pleasing. It will be hard to compete with this one as this was written after the death of star Paul Walker, however the fantastic imagery (establishing shots) is something I wish to use, with similar natural lighting as it looks strong and would set my fitting well.

What I can learn by watching all these various videos are, is what appeals to todays audience and how popular some videos are dependant on the song or simply the visuality of the song. And by this I can apply post modern features to my text by picking apart other famous texts and applying parts of them into my piece. 

New Storyboard

Here is a storyboard of my new proposed project. There is no sound and the clips wont fill the whole sequence, however, a storyboard doesn't always have to be visual to visual. It can simply be just a prompt for inspiration when filming. I know fully of the top of my head, what proposed shots I wish to do. There will be some complicated shots particularly animation, something I will try with after effects.
So if their are bits that remain unclear or have writing assume they're cartoon scenes with after effects.
This idea is inspired by the last sequence of MGMT - Kids which I feel will work, given my film is essentially meant to be a dream.